Winter 2014 | Nanga Parbat Summit Push Take-2

The Schell route climbers are back on the mountain trying to create a summit push possibility. Weather, or more specifically the windstorm condition, has fairly improved since last week. The improvement is predicted to continue till Saturday; the day when wind at summit may drop to 30km/h, suggests Mountain-Forecast.

Last week, both Polish team and Simone/David had to abandon the summit push in initial stages, due to extreme cold and fierce wind. After several days of snowstorm, they left BC when conditions improved slightly. The idea was to gain height in less favorable conditions and utilize the two days weather window for summit push. Unfortunately, the cold and wind were too strong to go beyond C2.

Tomek Mackiewicz and Pawel Dunaj left BC this morning, followed by Simone Moro and David Gottler in the afternoon. Their summit push plan will depend upon weather and mountain conditions.

“As per Karl Gabl (the meteorologist), we have an indication of a possibility for Saturday 15th February, with relatively calm winds, about 35km/h. The conditions are not ideal, rather they are perhaps even less favorable than the previous attempt, in the sense that the days preceding and those immediately following Saturday- the day scheduled for the summit attempt - once again appear ill-suited to remain in charge, because of the wind and very low temperatures.” wrote Emilio Previtali.

But why are the climbers so desperate for a summit push, despite an unconvincing forecast? Emilio explain in second part of dispatch.

“The specifics from Gabl, however, are clear: do not expect the optimal conditions or long periods of stable weather hereafter or at least until the weather has significantly done its job. In other words, the conditions are not ideal, but this is the best that you can find in the timeline of the next ten/fifteen days.”

As of now, both teams are on the way to C1 (5100m).

Diamir Side
Meanwhile on Diamir side, Daniele Nardi continues the acclimatization on Ganalo Peak. He left BC on Feb 8th, reaching 4600m that afternoon. On 9th, he climbed up to 5000m but couldn’t continue to 5500m next day due to cold feet. Daniele says that conditions are quite different from previous year; it’s colder at lower altitude.

As per original plan, the Italian climber wants to reach 6000m (or more, if possible) before an alpine style attempt on Mummery Rib.